Sunset at the Beach in Destin, Florida

Hal Humphreys and me at the "Whale's Tale" in Destin, FL. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you can see Jude and John Patrick reflected in our sunglasses. Pretty cool.

Beach Boy

This is one photo from an amazing series of photos of Jude and John Patrick on the beach in Destin, Fl, that our friend, Kim Green, took this afternoon. We met Kim and her husband, Hal Humphreys, for lunch at the "Whale's Tale," a local restaurant that overlooks the ocean. Coincidentally, Kim and Hal were in Destin, Fl, the same we week as us. It was good to spend some time with them.

I'm pretty certain this is the best photo ever taken of Jude, John Patrick and me. Jude's aunt, Judy Quinilty, took it this afternoon at the house they're renting in Destin, Fl. The entire clan is in town for Jude's brother's wedding in Ft. Walton Beach, Fl, on Saturday.

Juju and Grandma

Here's a photo of Jude's mother, Jane, and her sister, Judy Quinilty, with their grandsons, John Patrick and Nicholas. Boy, are they proud grandmothers or what?

On our way to Destin on Monday, December 29, 2008, for James' (Jude's brother) wedding, Jude and I stopped at a Hardee's in Florala, Alabama, to feed John Patrick. We felt compelled to buy something while we were there, so we got milkshakes. Man, were they good. I took this photo from the back of the parking lot at Hardees which, believe it or not, overlooked a park and a beautiful lake.

Um, here's proof I look a lot older than I did nine months ago. Actually, the holiday beard, er, goatee, will be gone in a day or two, as Jude, John Patrick and I will be attending her brother's wedding in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. Notice how natural John Patrick looks sitting on the bar at the 12 South Taproom, yesterday afternoon. A chip off the old block, I'll say.

Rock-n-Roll!

Okay, John Patrick is nine months old today, but in these photos Jude took a couple of days ago, he looks a lot older, at least to me, anyway. Of course, I'm guessing I look a lot older than I did nine months ago, too.

Swingin'

A couple of days ago, Jude, her parents and her brother, James, took John Patrick to the Nashville Zoo. Jude has a season pass and it's one of her favorite places in town to visit. It's also a great place to walk with him, in his stroller, when the weather is nice. Anyway, she took some photos of him swinging in a swing. Pretty cool shots, aren't they?!?

Bath Time!

Here's a great shot of John Patrick taking a bath. The older he gets (and he's 9 months old today!!!), the more he seems to enjoy his time in the tub. It's hilarious, but when Jude is giving him a bath, she'll squeeze the wash rag out in front of him, higher than his head. He watches the water drip down in a stream, then tries to catch it. He looks puzzled when the water goes right through his hands.

Christmas Day

Wow.

It's a little after 9 p.m. on Christmas night, Jude just went up to bed and I'm sitting downstairs, in my "man chair," drinking a glass of wine and relaxing after a hectic, exhausting day. You know what, though? I wouldn't have it any other way. Jude, John Patrick and I are blessed not to have to travel out of town for the holidays. More importantly, we're blessed to have our families here to celebrate Christmas with us.

Jude and I were up late, last night, wrapping gifts and preparing for today's holiday festivities. I didn't go up to bed until well after 1 a.m. When I checked on John Patrick, I was a bit alarmed to discover he had picked up a head cold. He wasn't sleeping soundly and, instead, was sniffling and coughing. I woke Jude up and she confirmed he had sounded the same when she had checked on him an hour or so earlier. I didn't sleep well, worrying about him.

This morning, early, we had Christmas with John Patrick. He particularly enjoyed "unwrapping" gifts he received from the two of us. It appeared that, to him, the objects inside the wrapping paper were just put there to give us something to wrap the wrapping paper around. He really got a kick out of tearing the paper, then trying to eat it.

Jude's mom and dad and her brother, James, came over to our house after attending the Christmas morning church service at the Cathedral (where Jude and I were married). We opened gifts together and spent some nice, quiet family time for a couple of hours. Then, about noon, Jude, John Patrick and I packed up and drove over to the clubhouse at River Plantation in Bellevue, where her grandparents live. There, we visited with her grandparents and various members of her family and had a wonderful meal together. We especially enjoyed seeing Jude's cousin Colleen and her husband, Tom Blanchard, in from Charlotte, NC. We don't get to visit with them often, so it was nice to spend some time with them.

Next, it was home again for a quick nap, then back on the road to my mom's house about 4:30 p.m. We had another meal with my family, which was nice, then opened gifts. It's fun to watch the latest generation of children enjoy Christmas (David and Stacy Clark's daughter and son, Hope and Will, Brad and Teresa Miles' twins, Ben and Sarah, and now, John Patrick).

In a reenactment of one of my finer moments from Christmases past, I brought "silly string" and offered Brad's son, Ben, five dollars to spray everyone in the room, as they opened their presents. He's probably a year or two away from realizing the value of a dollar, because I couldn't convince him to buy in, so to speak. David's daughter, Hope, was game, although she's actually younger than Ben. She had a hard time operating the can of "silly string" and I didn't help matters by spraying her in the face, accidentally, while I trying to instruct her in the finer points of "silly string" warfare. It's always funny until somebody gets hurt, I guess. She was fine and, in the end, the kids had fun trying to avoid me spraying them.

We left my mom's house and arrived home with John Patrick about 7 p.m. Jude fed him, then she and I opened our stockings to see what Santa had left for us. Forgetting that I was the one who liked malted milk balls, not Jude, I encouraged her to try the ones I had picked up for her at the Fresh Market. No worries, I ate several and they were quite tasty. Then it was bath time for John Patrick and a snack before bed. Just to show us how much he enjoyed Christmas day, John Patrick threw up all over Jude as she was feeding him before bed.

Overall, a successful day, I think.

More Santa

Santa!!!

John Patrick, talking things over with Santa Claus. Apparently, he had a pretty long list of toys to discuss. Santa's listening intently, as you can see.

Jude and John Patrick, waiting in line to see Santa Claus. At this point, we weren't quite sure how he would react, sitting in Santa's lap. We were encouraged, since he had done pretty well in Ronald McDonald's lap on our way to St. Louis for Christy White's wedding a couple of months ago. Of course, Ronald was made of plastic and didn't talk.

Visiting Santa

Lately, Jude and I have been feeling like slacker parents, since we hadn't made time to fight the crowds at the mall and take John Patrick to see Santa Claus. There being no time like the present and since Christmas was only a couple of days away, we agreed to meet at Green Hills Mall after work on Tuesday, the 23rd of December.

I was running a little bit late and my mood didn't improve, when I spent fifteen minutes playing musical chairs with other drivers, trying to find an open parking space. The drivers were cruising the parking lot like sharks, waiting for people to exit the mall, then trying to guess where their car was parked. As soon as someone walked up to his or her car, it was a mad dash as all of the rest of us wheeled down rows of parking spaces, trying to get to soon to be vacant space before one of the other competitors.

Once I got inside, I went upstairs and found Jude and John Patrick in line. My spirits lifted. There were about ten families in front of us and we waited more than an hour to see Santa Claus, but it was worth it. Once we got to the front of the line, John Patrick appeared perfectly comfortable in Santa's lap and smiled while his picture was taken. A piece of cake, really.

The Simple Things

Jude and I have discovered, firsthand, that it's not the store bought toys that capture John Patrick's interest, it's the simple ones. Tupperware is a big hit, especially when we put him in his high chair, while we're getting dinner ready for him. He loves to tear up paper and to play with plastic water bottles.

The last few days, he's enjoyed sitting in this box, playing and talking. Since these photographs were taken, Jude drew wheels on it and glued a paper steering wheel on the inside of it. Now, John Patrick has his first car. She pushes him up and down the hall upstairs, making car noises, as he sits contentedly his in "car." It's pretty funny.

Christmas Dog

I've had this "Christmas Dog" for years. I always make a big production of getting it out with all the rest of our Christmas decorations. As you can see, John Patrick made his acquaintance immediately and they seem to be getting along famously.

Turn the Page

Jude and I believe one of the most important gifts you can give a child is a love of reading. We read to him every day. Even on those occasions when he is a little fussy, he almost always calms down immediately if one of us sits him in our lap and places a book in front of him. We really, really love to read to him.

Last weekend, excited, Jude called me into his play area upstairs. She was sitting on the floor, with John Patrick in her lap, reading to him. As she finished reading a page, she lifted it slightly, then he grabbed it and turned it, all by himself. We were amazed! We watched him do it over and over again, laughing .

By today, a week later, he's really got the hang of it. It almost seems like he enjoys turning the pages as much as he enjoys looking at the pages.

Two Part Harmony

Lately, John Patrick has been squealing a lot. I mean, a whole lot. Sunday morning, Jude got up first, fed him, then took him downstairs while she made breakfast. I was awakened by the sound of his squealing, squealing and squealing some more. I was laying in bed, laughing, because his squealing really is the sound of happiness. When I got out of bed and went downstairs, he was sitting in the "exersaucer," smiling and squealing.

The really funny thing he does now, though, is to squeal in harmony with me. I'll sit him in my lap in one of the"man chairs" in the den, facing me. When I make a high pitched, falsetto sound, he'll look at me, then make the same sound himself. It's really pretty cool. If I change the pitch, as long as the note I hit is a high one, he mimics it and harmonizes with me. Jude and I laugh and laugh when he does it.

Friday with Daddy

Today, I stayed home with John Patrick until about 1:30 p.m., when Jude came home from work and took over. I had to go into the office for a meeting late this afternoon.

We had a really nice, relaxing day together. This morning, he was hungry and ate well at breakfast, then chugged his milk like a champ. We played downstairs for a while, mostly hanging out on the blanket on the floor of our den. He took a nap for about an hour and half before lunch, which was nice. It's great because, almost always, he fusses a little bit when I put him down for nap, but then goes right to sleep.

When I woke him up from his morning nap about 10:00 a.m., I have him another bottle, which he hammered. Then, we loaded up and drove over to Wolf Camera on West End Avenue to have some photographs developed. He was awake the entire time we were there and, until the very end, sat patiently in his car seat while I reviewed digital photographs to print. When he got a little fussy, I put him in my lap as I finished up. When I went to pay, I just sat him on the counter.

Next, back home for lunch. He ate great again and Jude arrived home just after lunch.

Worth of note is the fact that as we sat in one of the "man chairs" after breakfast, he babbled away. For the first time, he said, "da-da-da-da-da-da-da." He hasn't made a "d" sound before, so I was pretty excited. He has no idea what it means, nor do I, but one can always dream.

Food Fight!

Most mornings, Jude gets John Patrick up about 7 a.m., feeds him, then gets him dressed for the day. As she leaves, I take him downstairs, select some music to play on the ipod, sit him in his high chair and feed him breakfast. It's the highlight of my day.

Often times, mind you, it's challenging, depending on John Patrick's mood. Fortunately, I've developed some strategies for "encouraging" him to eat, even when he isn't interested in doing so. On a given morning, I may use one strategy or a combination of strategies, depending on how quickly he picks up on what I'm doing. Eight month olds are smarter than you think when it comes to doing what they want to do, as opposed to what you want them to do.

In no particular order, here are some of the strategies I've used.

1. Humor. As I hold the spoon in front of his face, I smile, laugh, sing, etc., until John Patrick opens his mouth to smile, then I shove the spoon in his mouth. Normally, it's my first option.

2. Distraction. I make a noise, say "boo," or otherwise distract John Patrick until he opens his mouth, then in goes a spoonful of food.

3. Bait and Switch. One of my favorites. After he's been eating for a few minutes, sometimes John Patrick starts to get bored and refuses to open his mouth. He'll hum, make noise, all with his lips pursed tightly together. I take a tupperware container or the top of one of his babyfood containers and hold it in front of his mouth. He looks at it, then opens his mouth to chew on it. When that happens, I shove the spoon right in. It works almost every time.

4. Deception. If all else fails, this is my go to strategy. When John Patrick gets tired of eating his rice cereal, which is kind of bland, I feed him a spoonful or two of babyfood fruit (apples, pears, bananas, etc.). Then, I mix in a few spoonfuls of rice cereal, then back to the fruit. He looks at me like he's kind of confused at times, but he eats all of his food.

5. Heavy Equipment Operator. At times, this approach works, as well. Basically, I fill the spoon up with babyfood fruit, babyfood vegetables or rice cereal (whichever is the food of choice), and make a noise like an airplane, a train, a bulldozer, etc., as the spoon approaches John Patrick's mouth. On a good day, he opens his mouth, probably as a puzzled reaction to all the dumb noises his father is making.

6. The Rhythm Method (also known as the Chanting Monk). When John Patrick and are really clicking and in sync, it takes little effort or thought to feed him. I fill up the spoon with babyfood or rice cereal, he opens his mouth and in goes the spoon. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. At times like this, when the whole operation is flowing smoothly, I find myself humming or saying "yum," as I put the spoon into his mouth, almost like a repetitive chant. We're in the zone. It doesn't happen a lot, but man is it nice when it does.

I'm guessing, though, that I'm only going to be able to outsmart John Patrick for a limited time. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Hunting Season!!!

This morning, John Patrick and I got up really, really early, so we could spend some time in the deer stand before I had to go to work. As you can see, he was really excited after he killed his first deer - a 10 point buck - with a cross bow, no less. I've always thought it's good to get children started hunting early.

Like Father, Like Son

John Patrick, sitting in one of daddy's "man chairs," watching a football game, no doubt.

Lately, John Patrick loves to snuggle with Jude and pull her hair.